Late Night Aircraft Departures from San Francisco Airport

Monthly data tracks flights departing between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. to measure airline compliance with FAA over-water routing and noise mitigation efforts over the San Francisco Peninsula. The dataset is used to generate a specific report in the Airport Director's monthly publication. Data is available starting from September 2022.

Use Cases

• Analyze flight routing compliance by identifying records with measurement details for the two navigation waypoints.
• Model noise exposure patterns by correlating late-night departure times with overflying events.
• Track monthly trends in late-night flight volumes to assess changes in airport operations.

Strengths

• Data is updated monthly, providing regular insights into flight operations.
• Specific temporal scope defined as flights between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
• Explicitly linked to a published, official Airport Director's Report.

Limitations

• Not all flight records contain measurement details for the key navigation waypoints, limiting analysis for some routes.
• The dataset's geographic scope is limited to departures from a single airport (San Francisco).
• The specific number of rows and columns is unknown, making it difficult to assess the dataset's scale.

Provenance

Source

City of San Francisco, likely via the San Francisco International Airport Noise Abatement Office.

Collection Method

Data is used to produce the 'NIITE to GOBBS 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.' report in the Airport Director's Report.

Time Range

Starting September 2022, ongoing.

Freshness

Updated monthly. Last updated March 2026.

Geography

San Francisco International Airport departures, with focus on overflying the San Francisco Peninsula.